Sealed
by adastra1
Summary: A closer look at Laguna's role in deposing the Sorceress Adel


Disclaimer: I don't own FF8 or any of its characters. Nor do I entirely own the basic plot of this story, rather, I am just adding some detail to part of the game's original plot. 

A/N: This is my first attempt at writing any kind of fiction in years, so I apologize in advance if this story is hard to read, doesn't make sense, or is hopelessly bad. Please review if you have any comments, good or bad, about this story. 

Sealed  
by adastra 

Laguna was nearly in a panic. He had just found out that Ellone was in the laboratory of Dr. Odine in Esthar, but the trip from the Lunatic Pandora laboratory to Esthar City was at least a four-hour drive, and he wasn't satisfied with the rate that he was getting there. "Can't you drive any faster?", he asked the man driving the car.   
"You think you can do better?", the driver snapped. "I'm sorry, I know you want to rescue that girl, but these roads are kind of hazardous. You won't be able to help her if I wreck the car by driving too fast."   
Kiros put a hand on Laguna's shoulder. "Calm down, Laguna. We'll get there soon, and I don't think that Odine will be able to arrive in Esthar before we do. Elle will be all right. I promise."   
Laguna sighed. "I suppose you're right, but I can't help thinking that I might not be able to save her in time..."   
"I know, but there's nothing you can do until we get there." Little was said for the rest of the journey. 

"Okay, now how can we get into this place?", Laguna muttered. Ward looked at him and shrugged. Laguna took a deep breath, and said, "Well, I suppose it won't hurt to try the front door, even if it is a slim chance." To the surprise of everyone, the main entryway to the laboratory was unlocked, and nobody could be seen in the lobby within. Laguna couldn't see any cameras either, which didn't mean there were no cameras, but Laguna didn't care. All he wanted was to get Ellone out of this place, and who was going to stop him?   
At the opposite end of the lobby from the entrance was a massive set of doors. Laguna ran over to the other side of the room and attempted to open the door, but it wouldn't budge. "I guess that this isn't the way to go...", sighed Laguna. Looking around the room, his eyes fell on a peculiar pedestal in the room's center. "Oh yeah, let's try the elevator!"   
Laguna, Kiros, and Ward strode across the lobby to the center of the room, where the odd Estharian elevators waited. "Do you know where this goes?", asked Kiros.   
"Not a clue, but we gotta try it", replied Laguna. Kiros and Ward looked at each other, and sat down on the elevator with Laguna.   
The elevator lurched upward to a conduit above the ceiling, and whisked along for a short time before coming to rest in a room lined with computer monitors and instruments. At the far end of the room, the wall consisted of a blue field of force, beyond which a cell containing a little girl could be seen. "Elle!", Laguna shouted, but the girl made no sign that she could either see or hear Laguna. Laguna went up to the force wall and prodded it, but the wall remained unchanged, and Ellone still didn't seem to be aware of Laguna's presence on the other side of the barrier. Laguna slumped over, disappointed, and then looked to where Ward and Kiros were inspecting a control panel. "Hey, maybe there's some button or switch here that controls that wall!", Laguna exclaimed.   
"Already thought of that, Laguna", said Kiros. "But where? There must be hundreds of different controls on this panel alone..."   
Laguna cut in, "Just let me at it", as he pushed Ward to the side. Kiros and Ward backed up a few steps from Laguna, ready to run if Laguna did anything that seemed remotely harmful. "Here goes nothing", said Laguna, as he pushed buttons at random. After a few minutes of trying, a message appeared on the terminal: "Cell Unlocked".   
"What did that do?", asked Laguna. "We still can't get into that room and get Elle out!"   
Kiros replied, "Calm down, Laguna. I'm sure that we can get into there somehow. This is a control room...the door to the cell must be somewhere else."   
With that, the three walked back over to the elevator and took it back to the lobby. As soon as the elevator settled to a rest, Laguna saw a flashing green light on the massive doors at the back of the room. Walking over, he pressed a button next to the green light, and the doors slid open, revealing the cell which held Ellone.   
Without hesitation, Laguna ran into the cell, crying "Elle! Are you OK?" He kneeled down before Ellone, and embraced her. Kiros could see the beginnings of tears forming in Laguna's eyes as he apologized to the girl. "I'm so sorry that I couldn't get here sooner..." Ellone was also on the verge of tears, but for a different reason. She was so happy to see Laguna come and rescue her, and she threw her arms around Laguna to hug him. "Don't cry, Uncle Laguna", she said. Kiros and Ward moved to the other side of the room to give Laguna and Elle a little space and privacy to talk, but Laguna and Ellone followed them.   
"Let's get out of here before anybody can stop us", Laguna said. Elle was still holding tightly to his hand as they left the cell. Laguna scooped Ellone up in his arms and exited into the lobby, his companions following close behind. In the lobby, they were greeted by the sight of Dr. Odine and a research assistant entering the lobby from the doors to the outside.   
It was hard to tell which group was more shocked. After a moment of stunned silence, Odine gained his composure and shrieked, "Vat are you doing with zat girl? You cannot steal Odine's research! Desist!" Odine started towards Ellone and Laguna, but stopped his tracks as Ward stepped in front of Laguna and cracked his knuckles. "Zat iz to say, ze Sorceress will be very angry with Odine. You cannot imagine vat Adel will do when she finds ze girl missing."   
Kiros looked at Odine in disgust. "You can't be serious! Ellone isn't just an experiment, and I don't care what Adel will do to you, you heartless bastard!"   
Ward put a restraining hand on Kiros' shoulder, and turned to Laguna. "..."   
"Oh, right." Laguna turned to Odine's lab assistant. "Why don't you explain the resistance's plan to depose Adel?"   
"Vat? I never knew zat you were a traitor to Adel!"   
Laguna stepped forward. "No need to act patriotic toward Adel's rule. We know that you would like to be able to do your research away from Adel's supervision."   
"Zat iz true...how did you know that?"   
Odine's assistant spoke up. "Dr. Odine, the resistance has formed a plan to rid Esthar of Adel's rule. We will need your help for this plan, though."   
Laguna cut in to the research assistant's explanation. "Sorry to interrupt you, James, but is this lab under surveillance?"   
Odine cut in before James could answer Laguna's question. "Of course it iz! Do you take Odine for a fool?", was Dr. Odine's reply.   
"Good. I have a brilliant plan. Show Adel the surveillance footage of us taking Elle here out of this place. If she recognizes me as the one who took Elle, it should be pretty easy for me to lure her into our trap."   
"Now that it seems that everybody has had a chance to cut me off, I'll continue to explain my plan," said James rather peevishly. Gesturing towards Ellone, he continued, "We all know that the Sorceress is interested in this girl's abilities. She's not going to be happy to find her gone, and will likely do all that she can to find her and those that took her." Taking a deep breath, he turned to Odine. "Just to make sure that she will pursue us into our trap, we would like to move the Lunatic Pandora out of Esthar."   
"You cannot be serious about that! You know zat I am still researching ze Lunatic Pandora!" sputtered Odine.   
"Calm down...we know that you have learned almost all that you can about the Lunatic Pandora," soothed James. "I believe that it's in your best interests to help depose Adel. If we take away the Pandora from Adel, right after taking Ellone out of her reach, the Sorceress will have no choice but to try to apprehend us."   
Odine replied to his assistant, "Zat may be so, but I still vant to study ze Lunatic Pandora... Besides, why do you people assume zat Adel will do exactly vat you expect her to do?"   
Laguna countered, "So you'll lose the Pandora...well, all of us are going to have to make sacrifices to see this plan through. About Adel, no, we don't know for sure that she will do as according to my plan, but I know that my plan is going to work. It's just too brilliant not to!"   
James cut Laguna off, asking him, "Why don't you tell Odine about the plan? We need him for parts of it, so we'll have to tell him some time or another."   
Laguna was silent for a moment, obviously thinking about how to describe the plan in the most convincing way. Turning to Dr. Odine, he explained, "Well, first of all, you, or somebody else working in this laboratory will have to show Adel the surveillance footage of us taking Ellone out of here. That will get her to connect me with the resistance...let her have a, umm..., specific face to associate with her enemies."   
James spoke up, thinking that he could be a little more concise with his explanation than Laguna was doing so far. "Right. Once she knows the face of her enemy, so to speak, she should stop at nothing to apprehend Laguna, so as to make an example of him to the populace...you know, show Esthar what happens to those who defy her. She knows that the people are discontented with the war, and needs to assert her authority, hoping that such an act will put down any dissident factions for a while." Taking a breath, he continued, "Now, Dr. Odine, if you would help us take the Lunatic Pandora away from Esthar, again casting Laguna as the perpetrator, that will convince Adel to give top priority to capturing Laguna."   
Laguna took advantage of the pause in James's explanation, and continued, "After a few days of hiding after we take the Lunatic Pandora away, that's when we trap her. Adel will probably have made it quite clear what she will do to the resistance, so I'll come out of hiding and make it look like I'm begging for mercy from her. We'll offer her Ellone and the Pandora's location in exchange for sparing my life." Laguna hesitated, and turned to Kiros and James. "Now, I didn't really understand what we'll do for the last part, so..."   
Kiros motioned for James to proceed. "Ah. The last part is where we trap Adel. Now, you know that if Adel dies, she must pass her powers on. Instead of killing her, we're planning to imprison her with the device that you're working on to seal a Sorceress' powers, to make sure that nobody else will get her powers, and continue what Adel has started."   
Dr. Odine looked up at this information. "So you vant to use ze sealing facility to trap her...but what if somebody breaks the seal?"   
"Well, once we have her sealed away, we were planning on sending her into space where nobody could get to her."   
Laguna spoke up, "Yeah, that's how we'll take care of her. I'll lure her into the trap, and you'll be rid of her."   
Dr. Odine appeared to be considering the plan. "Well, I suppose zat I cannot think of any objections to zis plan of yours. I will help you, as long as I am not put into any position where ze Sorceress will suspect me." 

Adel paced across the floor of her office in the presidential palace. Odine had notified her that the girl, Ellone, was taken away from his laboratory. `Stupid idiot, he told me that nothing would happen to her, he just wanted to study her powers for a little while, he said.' She had summoned him to explain how he managed to make such a mistake, and was awaiting his arrival.   
Odine approached the doors leading to Adel's office, hoping for the best. He was flanked by two guards, one of which stepped forward and spoke to the soldiers guarding the door. The soldiers nodded, and one of them spoke into an intercom, "Your Majesty, Dr. Odine has arrived."   
Odine flinched slightly as the doors in front of him swung open. He felt the guards at his sides push him forward slightly, and hesitantly walked through the doors. Looking up, he saw an incredibly tall woman with shockingly red hair and skin of an unusual shade of purple standing before the windows at the opposite end of the room. It appeared that the Sorceress had been waiting for him.   
"Your Majesty, we have brought Dr. Odine to you, as you requested", offered the guard to his right side. Adel made a small motion of dismissal with her hand, and the guards left the room, closing the door behind him.   
"So, my friend, it seems that you have some explaining to do", said Adel. Odine was, as always, slightly taken aback at the Sorceress' voice. It was soft and pleasant, contrasting sharply with the threats and malice present in her words.   
Odine quickly rehearsed what he was going to say, and gathered up his courage to speak. "Yes, your Majesty, Odine will explain. Ze girl was taken when I was at ze Lunatic Pandora Laboratory, so I don't have a first-hand account of vat happened." He held up a video and continued, "However, I believe zat I will be able to give sufficient account of vat happened from ze surveillance footage."   
`How disgusting...trying to placate me enough to escape from my office alive', thought Adel. "Very well, Odine, show me the footage," she replied to his obsequious words, waving her hand at a video player on her desk.   
Odine steeped toward Adel's desk slowly, and started the surveilance video. "Az you can see, your Majesty, it was not Odine's fault zat..."   
Adel sneered at him. "I may hear your account after I have seen all relevant parts of the video. Until then, do be quiet." The surveillance video showed a young man with longish brown hair who seemed to be in his twenties. As the video continued, Adel watched curiously, wondering at the man's good nature and at how much he seemed to care for the girl he was rescuing. Would anyone have done the same for her, had she been in the young girl's position? Adel mentally berated herself, `What, did you think that somebody would care one way or another about the freakish child everyone saw you as?' She was drawn out of her thoughts by Odine's hesitant voice.   
"Your Majesty, now zat you have seen the video, surely you cannot blame Odine for ze girl's disappearance...?" Odine inwardly cringed, fearing that perhaps speaking before Adel let him would turn out to have somewhat unhealthy consequences for him.   
Adel gave him a look of pure loathing. She greatly wanted to blame Odine, innocent or not, but she realized that that would gain her little. "Yes, I see that you were not in at the time that the girl was taken. I suppose that I can't blame your idiocy this time. Now, you may go."   
Odine did not need to be told twice. He bowed to the Sorceress, and left as quickly as politeness would allow. `Zat is all Adel has to say to Odine?' However, he wouldn't question his good fortune of leaving with only unkind words from the Sorceress.   
Meanwhile, behind the doors that Odine had just left, Adel played the surveillance video back again. Again, she focused her interest on the long-haired man. `Who is he', she wondered. `He must have gotten help from some resistance faction to get into Odine's lab, but is he with them? Does he pose any further threat?' Shaking her head, she called for the head of Esthar's intelligence agency. Hopefully, she would have some answers to these questions soon. 

Laguna stood outside the Lunatic Pandora laboratory. He impatiently fidgeted as he wondered if Odine would show up and help him and the resistance with this part of the plan to depose Adel. `If only Elle was here', he thought, `I'm never bored around her. Still, I had to send her home to her mother.' Perhaps the doctor had been detained by Adel. He wished that they didn't have to rely on the seemingly untrustworthy man, but Odine was the only one that knew how to control the Lunatic Pandora, with the possible exception of Adel herself.   
"Laguna, I just heard from Odine that he would be here shortly", said James, Odine's assistant. "He said that his meeting with the Sorceress went well, and that she has seen the surveillance video, but he had some things to take care of in the city, and that's why he's running late."   
"Thanks. Is there anything that I can do while we wait for him to show up?", Laguna asked.   
"No, we've done all that we can without the Doctor. I guess that we'll just have to wait for him to show up. Besides, it shouldn't be that long until he arrives." James turned around to go inside as Laguna turned his attention to look at the city in the distance.   
"Who would ever have thought that I'd end up trying to depose the ruler of the most advanced country in this world?", Laguna said to himself. `It just goes to show that the only thing one can expect from life is the unexpected.' Laguna shook his head and went inside; he wasn't normally given to such thoughts.   
To everyone's relief at the Lunatic Pandora laboratory, Dr. Odine did show up that day. They all knew that there was a high likelihood that the plan to depose Adel could go horribly wrong, and nobody wanted to think what actions Adel might take against them should they be caught. Now, it appeared that they could get this part of the plan behind them, leaving only the final confrontation with Adel.   
Odine faced everyone from the resistance just inside the entrance to the laboratory. "Now, we are at one of ze most crucial parts of our plan. Nothing must go wrong today. Odine would like to do this part by himself, but", Odine said, turning towards Laguna, "you, Mr. Loire, along with your companions, must be the one to go into the command room and do what iz needed. It would not do for Adel to see Odine sending the Lunatic Pandora off to the sea with you when shown ze surveillance videos of today's action."   
Odine took Laguna, Kiros, and Ward to the side, and told them what must be done to send the Pandora on its way. Laguna kept asking Odine to repeat himself, and finally Kiros and Ward looked at each other. "Dr. Odine, I believe that Ward and I know how to carry out this process. All we need Laguna for is so he shows up on the surveillance camera. We can take care of the rest with James's help."   
Odine looked at Kiros and Ward appraisingly. Turning to Ward, he asked, "And you? Are you sure zat you know what you are doing?"   
Ward nodded his assent. "..."   
Laguna touched Dr. Odine on the shoulder to gain his attention. "We'll do all right. I know you really don't want to see your chance to study the Lunatic Pandora go off into the ocean, but you have to know that this is for the best."   
Odine seemed at a loss for words, and just nodded, waving Laguna, Kiros, Ward, and James toward the laboratory's control room.   
Inside the control room, James said softly, "He may have his priorities wrong, but it's kind of sad to see the Doctor so upset over losing this," making a gesture towards the windows facing the Lunatic Pandora. Motioning the other three over to a control panel, he said, "I'm sorry to see it gone, too, in a way. I was writing a paper on its workings, but now, I'll never be able to finish it."   
Ward looked at him, but of course said nothing. James nodded back, "Thank you. Now, here's what we have to do..."   
Odine had gone outside the laboratory to watch. The Lunatic Pandora shuddered, and with a low, grinding sound, lifted away from the ground it was partly buried in. `Laguna's companions must have done it right.' As he continued to watch, the monolith slowly accelerated to the west, gaining speed as it headed toward Esthar. After a few minutes, the Lunatic Pandora was just a small shape on the horizon, and he turned to see Laguna and the others exit the laboratory.   
"We set things up so that it should sink off the coast of Centra," said James, breaking the silence.   
And you made sure zat ze surveillance footage shows only vat we want it to?", asked Odine.   
Kiros stepped forward. "Yes, Dr. Odine. The footage shows our faces clearly, and we made it look like we broke in, so you shouldn't be in too much danger from Adel when she finds out."   
James added, "Still, it would be best if we left immediately. We still have preparations to make before we face Adel, and it would be best if we left the scene of the crime in any case, so to speak."   
Odine nodded. "Odine will return to Esthar and show ze Sorceress ze surveillance video. You," he said, pointing at James, "go to ze sealing facility and make sure zat everything iz working there. You three," he continued, turning to Laguna, Kiros, and Ward, "you know what to do..."   
Laguna interrupted the scientist, "Yeah, we get Adel to follow us to where you've hidden the sealing device that she doesn't know about."   
Kiros asked Odine, "Doctor, are you sure that Adel doesn't know about this sealing device that you've been working on? What if she's able to tell what it is?"   
Odine replied promptly, "Yes, yes, ze Sorceress has no idea zat Odine has been working on a sealing device. It iz unlikely zat she will be able to tell what Odine's device iz for."   
Laguna nodded, and said, "Right. We all know what to do from here. Good luck, everybody." 

Adel was furious. Not only had the girl with her special powers been taken out of her grasp, but now, the Lunatic Pandora had just floated over the city, heading toward Centra. `That fool Odine had better have a good explanation this time...', the Sorceress thought. She wasn't looking forward to having to listen to the obnoxious scientist, but resigned herself to summoning Odine to the Presidential Palace. 

A day had passed, and Adel had not heard from Dr. Odine yet. She was beginning to suspect that he had something to do with the Lunatic Pandora's disappearance.   
A servant knocked on the doors, and meekly entered the room. "Your Majesty? I've been sent to inform you that Odine has answered your summons." Receiving no reply from the Sorceress, she slipped out of the room.   
Adel sighed, closing her eyes and resting her head in her hands. She was beginning to get a headache, and the last person she wanted to hear from right now was Odine. `I'll have to deal with him, but maybe I can get this meeting over with quickly', thought Adel, as she rubbed her temples.   
The Sorceress did not have to wait long before Odine arrived in her office, and immediately began talking. "Your Majesty, you must know zat Odine had nothing to do with ze Lunatic Pandora incident. I..."   
Adel cut him off; it seemed to Dr. Odine that her usually pleasant voice held a sharp, brittle edge to it this time. "Don't waste my time. Either show me some proof that you were not involved, or leave."   
Cut off in the middle of his explanation, Odine looked to be considering to continue, but instead, he wordlessly handed over the surveillance video from the Lunatic Pandora laboratory. Adel looked up at him. "Leave me, and wait outside. I'll call for you if I need to question you any further."   
Odine looked surprised, but just said in reply, "As you wish, your Majesty", before he turned and left the room.   
Adel sighed again before starting the video. `I'll have to take the rest of day off...I can't work anymore today', she thought. Watching as the footage began, she saw the long-haired man that had taken that girl away from her. `Him again...' After a few minutes, the relevant part of the video ended, and she jabbed at the video player with a little more force than necessary to stop the video.   
It was the same man, Adel was sure of it. `What is he hoping to accomplish', she wondered. She considered playing the surveillance footage over again, but decided against it. `I've had enough for today.' Standing up from behind her desk, she exited through the back of the office and went to her private chambers, unable to stop thinking about the man on the video. `Why does my mind keep returning to him?' Lying down and placing a wet washcloth over her eyes, she tried to rid her mind of her thoughts. She never did remember that she had left Dr. Odine waiting outside her office. 

Adel woke up; the windows were dark. `I must have fallen asleep', she thought. Carefully sitting up, she found that her head was feeling better, and decided to go into her office and deal with the matters of the Lunatic Pandora's disappearance. She was still thinking of the man in the video, and he had featured prominently in the dream she had just before waking. The dream didn't make sense to her, but then again, her dreams hardly ever did. She had seen herself wandering in a strange dreamscape, and every time she looked behind her, she saw him watching her, his face showing nothing but what appeared to be resignation to an unpleasant task. "I'll finish this matter, and maybe I can stop thinking about this", she muttered as she picked up the phone to finish her task. 

Laguna watched the television intently. The cable transmission showed a news report detailing the Sorceress' response to the disappearance of the Lunatic Pandora. At the moment, a segment showing Adel herself iterating what would befall the perpetrators was playing. :...and return the girl to my posession, they will be spared. If not, I will find them eventually. In that case, they face nothing but death.:   
Laguna tuned out the rest of the transmission, as he had already heard about this on a different channel. He wondered, `Will we make it back from this? Adel, she is a monster...if this plan fails, I don't think we'll be able to escape.' Another thought entered his mind, `A monster? Do you think she ever had a choice in becoming one? Becoming one was probably the only way she could live her life.' Laguna sighed, his thoughts staying on Adel, and what they had to do to defeat her. He was tired of thinking, and he wished that it was already over.   
Kiros walked into the room; apparently, he had been watching the screen from the doorway. "Laguna? Do you think that you'll ever get to see Raine and Elle again?"   
Laguna remained silent for a few moments, and then replied, "I hope so. I don't want to go up against Adel and get killed, but I know that I have to do this for them."   
Kiros sat down in the chair next to Laguna. "I think I know how you feel. I really don't have any family to worry about, but I know that we have to do this...no matter who is victorious, I won't have any regrets."   
Laguna chuckled. "If we win, we won't regret being the hero. If we lose, well, dead men can't regret anything, can they?"   
Kiros just shook his head and stood to leave. On the way out, he mumbled, "In twenty-four hours this will all be over..." 

Adel frowned as she was driven to the laboratory that Dr. Odine had by the inland sea. It seemed that the resistance was willing to give up Ellone to save themselves. They had been hiding at the laboratory, and she was going there to end it. `This may end up well today, but what will happen when somebody else decides to challenge my rule?', she said to herself. All that she wanted was to get this over with; the amount of stress that this whole affair was causing her felt like it was eating away at her mind. Sighing, she saw the bulk of the laboratory in the distance. Good. It was almost over. 

The people gathered at Odine's laboratory watched apprehensively as Adel got out of the vehicle that had just arrived. Kneeling down to the Sorceress seemed like a good idea at this time, so Laguna fell to his knees and prostrated himself in front of the Sorceress as the rest followed suit. Laguna had seen images of Adel before, but they hadn't prepared him for the effect that she had on him. He had not realized how impressive the tall woman before him was, she literally emanated power.   
"So, you have the girl to give to me?", asked Adel. Laguna had heard her speaking last night when he was watching the news, but he still found Adel's pleasant voice to be somewhat surprising, considering that this woman could probably kill him without much effort at all.   
"Yes, your Majesty, we have her", said Laguna. He was all too aware of the fear in his voice, and his leg was cramping up.   
"Well, what are you waiting for? Take me to her!"   
Laguna rose slowly, and started toward the steps leading up to the laboratory's entrance. He could feel Adel's eyes from behind him; but he felt better standing up...he was gaining his confidence with every step. All was going according to plan.   
Reaching the doorway, he opened it, and motioned for Adel to step inside. Following her through the door, he stopped behind her as she looked upon the hologram of Ellone.   
Adel was looking at the scene before her. There was a great deal of machinery a few steps ahead of her, and the girl was held in the middle of it. Looking closer, she saw that the image of the girl was only a hologram. `So he brought me here to trap me, did he?', was Adel's thought. Turning around, she looked at Laguna. `This man threatens all that I'm working toward. Still, I don't really want to kill him.' The thought surprised her. Thinking about it, she remembered how grateful he had been on the surveillance video when he rescued the girl from Dr. Odine's laboratory. Something about that touched the heart that she thought she had stilled. `Maybe if I had known somebody like him as a child, I might not have had to take the path that I'm on now. Maybe...'   
However, her words were at conflict with her thoughts. Turning, she asked, "You thought to fool me with a hologram?" Not giving Laguna time to reply, she continued, "This only makes your situation worse, you know."   
Surprisingly, the man she faced wore an expression of hope. Adel was a bit surprised by this, and said, "You have lost."   
The man replied, "I don't think so...my plans are always PERFECT!" With the last word, he threw himself at her, pushing her back into the machinery. "Kiros! Ward! NOW!", he shouted.   
The machinery around her came to life, and Adel found that she couldn't escape. Her sorcerous powers would not respond to her needs, and it was if she was rooted to the spot. `I lost", she thought. She was surprised at her feelings. Expecting to feel anger and hate toward this man, she instead felt a curious connection to him. She now knew why he had been able to defeat her - his personality inspired all of those he worked with. Maybe part of her hadn't even wanted to win against him. A sensation unknown to her tightened in her chest. It wasn't fear, but something else. Something that wasn't at all unpleasant. `What is this that I'm feeling? Could...Could I have fallen in love with this one?' She opened her mouth to speak, wanting to let this man know how she felt. Before she could speak, though, the machinery around her hissed, and she felt her awareness fading. Her last thought before stasis completely overtook her was, `I wish he knew...' 

Laguna slumped to the floor; it was finally over, and he didn't have to be afraid anymore, for himself, for his friends, or for Raine and Ellone. He wanted to cry in relief, but the tears just wouldn't come.   
A voice behind him spoke, "It's hard, isn't it? You don't know if you've done enough..."   
Laguna didn't turn to face Kiros, in fact, he didn't even seem to have heard him. Kiros was about to step forward when Laguna spoke. "I've done all I can...let's hope that it's enough."   
"Let's go. You need some time to yourself, and we all need to rest", said Kiros, and he dragged Laguna to his feet. "I promise, you couldn't have done any better than you did." Kiros started walking slowly toward the door.   
Laguna sighed, he supposed that Kiros was right. Looking back at Adel's still form, his eyes were drawn to the Sorceress' face. Her last moments had not been pleasant, it seemed. Still, he couldn't help but wonder at her eyes, which had been fixed on him when she was put into stasis. Laguna couldn't recognize the emotion he thought he saw in them...it didn't really look like she was looking at him with malice. Shaking his head, he followed Kiros out of the room, not looking back. 

* * *

A/N: I came up with the idea for this story when I was wondering how Adel could have fallen for Laguna's trick. I know that Adel seems out of character in the last part, but then again, we never saw much of what she thought in the game. Thank you for reading, and if you have any opinion, please leave a review. 

rfghnaf vagrevf ven irurzragv 


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